TB Tops HIV As Leading Cause Of Infectious Disease Deaths Worldwide, But Rate Down By Almost Half Since 1990, WHO Report Says

NPR: TB Is Now The Top Infectious Killer (Even Though Deaths Are Down)
“Tuberculosis is now killing more people each year than HIV, according to new data from the World Health Organization. WHO estimates there were almost 10 million new cases of TB last year; the disease caused 1.5 million deaths. By comparison, 1.2 million lives were claimed by HIV…” (Beaubien, 10/28).

Reuters: Tuberculosis now rivals AIDS as leading cause of death: WHO
“…Dr. Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO TB program, said the report reflects the dramatic gains in access to HIV/AIDS treatment in the past decade, which has helped many people survive their infections. But it also reflects disparities in funding for the two global killers…” (Steenhuysen, 10/28).

U.N. News Centre: Tuberculosis deaths nearly halved since 1990, but 4,400 dying daily from disease — U.N. health agency
“The World Health Organization (WHO) announced [Wednesday] that the fight against tuberculosis (TB) is paying off, with this year’s death rate nearly half of what it was in 1990, but 1.5 million still people died from the disease last year, with more than half occurring in China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan. ‘Most of these deaths could have been prevented,’ according to WHO’s Global Tuberculosis Report 2015…” (10/28).

Wall Street Journal: Deaths From TB Globally Outnumber HIV/AIDS
“…The WHO said that 9.6 million people were sickened with TB in 2014, 600,000 more than the previous year. That number includes one million children, nearly twice the previous pediatric estimate. TB isn’t on the rise — the number of cases a year is actually gradually declining, the WHO said. Rather, the larger number of cases is due to improvements in recent years in the way many countries are conducting surveys — improvements that have unearthed more cases…” (McKay, 10/28).

Xinhua News: Tuberculosis ranks alongside HIV as leading killer worldwide: WHO report
“…The report highlighted the need to close detection and treatment gaps, fill funding shortfalls, and develop new diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines. Global advances included the achievement of the MDG that called for halting and reversing TB incidence by 2015. The goal was reached globally and in 16 of the 22 high-burden countries that collectively account for 80 percent of cases…” (10/28).